Somewhere Close To You
by Aylatha
Summary: People often do not appreciate what they have, and Sesshomaru is no different - when his beast picks a human as their mate, he rejects her for being human. However, his beast compels him to be near her, and so he extracts her from her pack and takes her along on his journey. Lillia, an educated, modern-day woman, is not at all happy with their situation, but what can she do?
1. Chosen

**A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to my second Sesshomaru/Lillia-installment, which will contain the one-shots _Blackout _and _Alone Together_. Timeline-wise, we are sometime after Rin's second death, which means that Sesshomaru knows about Tenseiga's limitations. While most of the characters from _The Flower of the West_ will re-appear in this story, and are the same people (just with a slightly different backstory), any events taking place in that story do not affect this story at all. They never happened. As Lillia already knows a great deal more than at the beginning of The Flower, there will be less exposition here - any laws and rules concerning youkai etc. established in The Flower apply to this story as well.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. The cover image was created using the Erté Elegance-maker (I hope I spelled it right) on Doll Divine, it can be found on both my Doll Divine and DeviantArt-accounts. The title was derived from the song "Somewhere Close To You" by Sonata Arctica. Other than that, neither the song nor the band influenced the creation of this story in any way.**

* * *

**Chosen**

It had been a perfectly ordinary morning, and nothing at all had hinted at the fact that a life-changing meeting was going to take place that day. Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, had spent his day just as he had spent the days preceding it – with walking at a slow, measured pace. He was in no hurry to get anywhere, he had all the time in the world, after all.

Behind him trailed his companions, his loyal – but often annoying – retainer Jaken, a kappa that had decided one day to follow him, Rin, a human pup who had decided to follow him, and Ah-Un, a two-headed dragon. That had not decided to follow him, at least not on his own.

Things had been quiet as of late, there had been no run-ins with either his annoying half-breed half-brother, or with any of Naraku's incarnations – or the vile creature himself. Sesshomaru was thoroughly sick of them all, and didn't want them anywhere near him, or his pack. Naraku had targeted Rin several times, as she was the only weakness Sesshomaru apparently had, and the small creature had already died twice – and if she were to die again, it would be for good. Therefore, he was unwilling to take any risks concerning her safety.

Sesshomaru knew that most people – be they human or demon – thought him to be a merciless killer, a creature that possessed no heart (figuratively) and that was incapable of feeling _anything_. Well, that was most certainly not true – Sesshomaru just never let his feelings show, as he perceived that to be a weakness. While it was true that he had no patience for weaklings or fools, he did value loyalty and bravery, which was part of the reason he had allowed Rin to follow him. At first, he had merely been curious to see what she would do now that he was no longer weak and helpless, and even one as young as her must realise he needed no assistance. But somehow, she had managed to worm her way into his cold heart, and he had been unable (and slightly unwilling) to try and remove her. She was his now, his pup. And as such, he would care for her.

Jaken was a different matter altogether. When not busy performing tasks appointed by his lord, he was loud and annoying, and Sesshomaru occasionally lost his patience with him. Unlike Rin, Jaken was fully grown and therefore not entitled the same liberties Rin was – though the human girl was very well-behaved. Reprimanding _her_ wasn't really necessary – reprimanding _Jaken_ was.

As the shadows grew longer, Sesshomaru had started to look for an adequate place to spend the night. He left Rin in Jaken's care and then wandered off into the woods to explore their surroundings. Also, Rin couldn't just live off fish and berries, she needed meat once in a while, and, while she had gotten pretty good at catching fish, catching game was totally out of the question.

So, he went out to hunt.

Sesshomaru had just come across a rather promising trail when the wind suddenly shifted – carrying with it a scent so alluring it instantly shut down Sesshomaru's brain. Unable to think as his instincts kicked in, he veered from his path and took off at a run, determined to find the source of this heavenly fragrance a soon as possible.

As he got closer to his destination, he detected the peculiar scent of steam and hot water, and realised he was approaching a hot spring. The scent was growing stronger by the minute, he had to be close.

He burst into a small clearing and came to an abrupt stop right in front of a human woman who was apparently in the process of getting dressed after taking a bath – her black hakama and haori lay spread out on a rock, and she was currently fumbling with the ties of her gi – but froze on the spot as soon as she became aware of him.

They were standing so close they were almost touching, she had to crane her neck in order to be able to see his face, as she was about a head shorter than him. A pair of blue eyes were staring up at him with a startled expression, and Sesshomaru was momentarily confused – humans had, to his certain knowledge, brown eyes and dark hair – and yet, hers were blue, and her hair had two different colours, as if she'd dyed part of it.

It was only now that he had taken note of those peculiarities that his brain managed to catch up, and he realised that the source of the tantalising smell had been a _human_. And Sesshomaru despised any human that didn't go by the name of Rin and happened to be his ward.

Therefore, he was quite disturbed that part of him wanted to be close to her, to touch her – drawing onto his iron control, he squashed those urges. The human still appeared to be too stunned to do anything, anyway, so that gave him the time to come up with a plan. And that plan was to get the hell out of here.

Sesshomaru spun on the spot and made a mad dash for the trees – telling himself that he was not, in fact, running away, but retreating in order to ponder the mystery of that strange human woman. And to forget her and those piercing eyes as soon as possible.

The last thing of her to linger was the sound of a small gasp, as _her_ brain finally caught up with what had happened.

* * *

Not in the best of moods, Lillia stared darkly at her bowl of food, as if it had personally offended her. She stirred the contents a little with her spoon, but that didn't really improve anything, least of all her mood. She listlessly poked a bit of meat before deciding that she was done eating.

"Lillia-chan? Are you all right?"

Lillia looked up as Kagome plopped down next to her. The young miko – she was seventeen, the same age as Lillia's youngest brother – was the one she could most easily interact with, partly because they were both from the same time. Kagome was very wise and perceptive for her age, and Lillia had found that she actually liked her company. They practised archery together, Lillia would also help her study, it gave her something to do.

She wasn't as close with the others of the small group – she didn't really have anything in common with Sango, the other human woman, who had been raised a warrior, and the hanyou InuYasha was far too brash and unrefined for her taste – though she had gathered that this wasn't his own fault, and that he could have turned out much, much worse. She sometimes conversed with the monk, Miroku, mostly about spirituality and mystical powers, but only when there was no chance he could get within reaching distance.

The first time he had felt her up, she had kicked him in the groin. Hard. It had left a rather strong impression.

She didn't really know how to deal with Shippo, either – she knew next to nothing about youkai, and unlike InuYasha, who was half human and had spent more of his life interacting with her kind than with the other, he was a full demon – albeit a little one. Lillia wasn't a very patient person, and it had very often been hard enough for her to stomach the antics of a brother seven years younger than her – hell, the one that was only two years younger had certainly known how to rile her up with his silly behaviour. And Shippo was extremely good at getting into fights with InuYasha, which only further ground on Lillia's nerves.

Then again, she had been lucky that this ragtag band of fighters _had_ found her – after having been transported to the past by means and for reasons unknown to her, she had found herself in a forest with not a single human being in sight. Not knowing where she was or how she was to get back to Tokyo had been terribly unsettling, and she had been lucky to run into a person who happened to be a time-traveller. Kagome had explained to her everything worth knowing about Feudal Japan, youkai and magic, and that had been nearly impossible to believe. At first, Lillia had attempted to convince herself that this was all just a bad dream, but the more time passed, the clearer it became that this wasn't the case.

And worst of all, she was stuck here. Kagome had explained that the portal she used for time travel only allowed her and InuYasha through, so they had to find another way for her to get home. However, their quest to collect all the shards of the Shikon no Tama had priority over everything else, so they could only look for clues along the road.

Since Lillia had never heard of anyone doing any time-travelling before, she had accepted the fact that she would spend the rest of her life here. Trying to make the best of it, she had asked Kagome to fetch some things for her: her bow and arrows as well as the clothes she wore during kyudo-practice – black hakama, a white gi and a black haori. That way, she didn't stand out more than she already did with her light hair and blue eyes.

Actually, most of the people she'd met had thought her to be a youkai, something Lillia had found amusing at first. By now, it was just annoying.

Lillia had also given Kagome access to her credit card and bank account – she wasn't going to need her money anyway, and, since she could not contribute anything to the group's fighting strength, she decided to serve as a source of information, and money.

Back in the present, she focused her attention on Kagome.

"Why do you ask?"

"You've seen somewhat out of it for the last couple of days", the miko replied. "And you haven't finished your meal. Again."

Lillia sighed quietly.

"I'm fine. Something _is_ bothering me, but that doesn't concern you, so don't worry about it. And I'm simply not hungry. I seem to have lost much of my appetite – it got nothing to do with the food, or your skills as a cook. I just don't feel like eating right now."

"I see. Well, if you should ever feel like talking about it... I'll give your leftovers to InuYasha, he's always hungry anyway."

"Thanks, Kagome."

Lillia got to her feet and made her way over to the tree where she'd stored her stuff, sitting down between the roots to do some brooding in peace. Lillia knew exactly what Kagome had been referring to – while she had definitely preferred some privacy at the beginning of their journey together, for the last few days, she'd always stuck close to Kagome and Sango – the reason being that unsettling incident at the hot spring a few days back.

Lillia had always assumed that it would be safe for her to take a bath on her own, as InuYasha and Shippo had excellent noses and could smell anything approaching, and Miroku and Kagome could sense a youkai's aura. She had therefore believed that someone would come and get her should anything dangerous come their way – but the wind had been blowing in the wrong direction, and neither Miroku nor Kagome had sensed anything – or they would have brought it up.

So, Lillia had suffered the shock of her life when that man/youkai had just appeared out of thin air. She was lucky, really, that he had done nothing more than stare at her, but the whole experience had shaken her to the core. As a result, she had started to bathe together with the other two, and make sure that any of the grown-ups was always near her.

Apparently, they hadn't missed this change of behaviour. Still, Lillia didn't want to talk about it – partly because she had no idea what she should say. It had been simply too bizarre.

Feeling the sudden need to occupy her mind somehow, Lillia grabbed her yumi and unwrapped it, before carefully tracing her fingers over the polished and lacquered bamboo bow. It was one of her most valuable possessions – hand-crafted at the workshop the sensei of her school owned, and customised for her needs and preferences.

It had cost a nice sum, too, and Lillia had only acquired her own bow once she had significantly improved her strength – otherwise, she would have outgrown it eventually.

Lillia didn't just admire the yumi, though – she also checked it for damaged parts on a regular base. Even though she didn't use it in battle – she usually stayed behind with Shippo – a damaged bow was dangerous, and she wasn't going to risk injury during practice, either.

She was roused from her thoughts when InuYasha jumped to his feet, dropping his bowl and letting out a feral snarl as he drew his sword, Tetsuaiga. The others instantly responded to that, Sango reached for her enormous boomerang and Kagome scrambled for her bow and arrows.

"What is it, InuYasha?", Miroku asked, concern in his voice.

"It's the bastard", InuYasha growled. "He's headed this way."

"Lillia, get over here!", Kagome called frantically. "Stay close to me! Shippo, stay with her."

Lillia jumped to her feet and strung her bow in record-time. Shouldering her quiver, she dashed over to where Kagome was standing, readying her own bow. Lillia had no intentions of using hers – she would never be able to hit anything that was moving, and she didn't have the time to put on her gloves, either. Shippo jumped onto her left shoulder to get a better vantage point as InuYasha, Sango and Miroku formed a loose line in front of them, ready to intercept "the bastard" – whoever that was. Lillia had no idea, but now didn't seen like the perfect time to ask.

Tension was thick in the air, and it was different from the few times they had come under attack by Naraku's underlings, too – Lillia suddenly got the feeling that whatever was coming for them now was much, much worse.

InuYasha suddenly shifted into a fighting stance, and Lillia spotted a figure emerging from the trees – a tall man with long, silvery-white hair dressed mainly in white and wearing armour. He was moving at a slow, leisurely pace, as if the fact that they were waiting for him, armed to the teeth, didn't faze him in the slightest.

He finally came to a halt a short distance away from their "vanguard" and Lillia sucked in a startled breath when she realised this was the same youkai whom she had met at the hot spring.

His eyes flickered to hers briefly before focusing on InuYasha.

"Sesshomaru, teme! What the hell do you want this time?", the hanyou all but growled.

"The human", the youkai replied evenly.

That brought InuYasha up short, but Lillia felt dread overcoming her at that remark.

"Which one?", InuYasha asked warily. "Ever since when were _you_ interested in humans anyway?"

Sesshomaru blinked languidly.

"My motives are none of your business, half-breed. You will hand her over, now."

"Hell no! Like I'd ever leave one of my friends at your mercy, you bastard!"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed minutely before he fixed those cold, penetrating eyes on Lillia again.

"You will come with me", he said in a quiet voice. "If you do not, I will slaughter all of your comrades."

Lillia felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. She staggered backwards, one hand coming up instinctively to secure Shippo's position on her shoulder.

If anyone had been confused about who Sesshomaru was talking about, well, they no longer were. With a feral cry, InuYasha lunged at the demon.

"You can't have Lillia, you won't take any of my friends away!"

Sango and Miroku quickly jumped backwards as Sesshomaru unsheathed his own sword to parry InuYasha's attack, but stayed between them and the others. Lillia grabbed her yumi so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Lillia?", Kagome asked. "Why on earth is Sesshomaru after you?"

"I – I don't know", she whispered. "But I've met him before – four, five days ago, at a hot spring. He just showed up, scared me almost to death, then stared at me and left. But – I don't know why he's back..."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No. He didn't even say anything... just stared at me all creepy-like. Who is he, anyway?"

"Sesshomaru is InuYasha's older half-brother, and he's full youkai – and also the Lord of the Western Lands. He's extremely powerful, cold, cruel, and a merciless killer."

"Sounds lovely", Lillia commented dryly. "Can InuYasha take him?"

Kagome hesitated before answering.

"To be honest, no, I don't think he can. Not only is Sesshomaru much, much older and more experienced than him, but he's also received proper training. I believe that we only survived our encounters with him so far because he was careless, made a mistake, or something unforeseen happened. We just got lucky every time. But I have a feeling luck won't be on our side today... Sesshomaru seems pretty determined."

"Can we outrun him?"

"No. And even if we could, he would simply follow us. Our options are awfully limited, I'm afraid..."

As Lillia watched the brothers fight, she found that she had to agree with Kagome – InuYasha was attacking using brute strength, aiming wide swipes at Sesshomaru and using his Kaze no Kizu-attack – which only served to tear up the ground and turn trees into tinder. Sesshomaru was never in any danger of getting hit.

He, on the other hand, was using his sword more like, well, a sword, and not a club. He was moving awfully fast and had already landed several hits. That didn't slow InuYasha down, but Lillia still didn't like where this was going.

Fights wit Naraku's underlings usually played out in a very different manner – everyone would try to beat them up until InuYasha, Kagome or Miroku got a chance to finish them off. However, Lillia got the distinctive feeling that InuYasha was the only one who could take on Sesshomaru, and, since they were moving too fast, Kagome couldn't get a clear shot, either.

Kagome gasped in shock when Sesshomaru landed a blow that sent InuYasha flying into a tree, which stunned him momentarily. The dai-youkai wasted no time and was on top of him in an instant, InuYasha just managed to deflect the blow that would have taken his life.

Without knowing what she was doing, Lillia started forwards, dislodging Shippo in the process, but Kagome grabbed her arm.

"Stop it!"

"Lillia!", Kagome whispered frantically. "Please don't do anything stupid!"

Lillia ignored her, her attention fixed on the inu, who had, in fact, paused.

"I'm going with you! Just – stop it!"

"Lillia! Don't do this!"

Sesshomaru grabbed InuYasha by the front of his robes and carelessly tossed him into the trees before turning to face her.

"Come, then."

"Can I pack my stuff?"

He wordlessly inclined his head.

Lillia turned on her heels and made her way back over to the tree she had been resting against earlier. The sound of twigs being crushed told her that Kagome was following her.

"Lillia, please, think this through!", the miko begged. "Sesshomaru _hates_ humans, so no matter what he has planned, it can't be good. Don't go with him, it's simply too dangerous!"

"Sorry, Kagome, but I'm not going to sit here and watch my friends getting beaten to death. Besides, with me gone, you'll have one mouth less to feed – I never was very useful to you guys, after all."

"That's not true! You've helped tons! Don't go selling yourself short!"

"I'm not. I'm just being realistic. I'm not saying I don't have special talents, but my talents are of no use here. I'm even more useless than Shippo, and he's just a kid."

"I'm not exactly a good fighter, either", Kagome replied quietly.

"But you got powers, powers which I wish I possessed. Don't _you_ dare selling yourself short."

"You're not gonna reconsider?"

"No. Keep using my money, as I won't be needing it again – at least not in this life. Stay strong, look after the others. Don't let anything get you down. Study hard. Oh, and stop Naraku, too."

Kagome managed a weak smile.

"Take care, Lillia. I'm going to miss you..."

Lillia was totally taken aback when Kagome suddenly launched herself forward and enveloped her in a hug. After recovering from the surprise, she carefully wrapped her arms around the girl.

"I'm going to miss you, too, Kagome. It was nice being around you."

Lillia was almost done packing by now. Miroku and Sango had, in the meantime, retrieved a very unconscious and somewhat bruised InuYasha – Sesshomaru hadn't cared in the slightest, he seemed convinced that no-one would actually interfere with Lillia's decision. Kagome upended her yellow rucksack and started searching through the pile. She sorted out several items that Lillia could use and dispose off without harming the environment, such as organic soap, dried meat and other things. Lillia had actually suggested the use of organic products – the world would get polluted soon enough, there was really no need to start now, even if it was "just" soap or shampoo.

Miroku gave Lillia a thick blanket as a parting gift, it was large enough for her to wrap it around her body several times. Lillia accepted everything without complaining, knowing that they would be able to replace those things – whereas she had no idea if Sesshomaru would care if she was uncomfortable, hungry or cold. Probably not.

"Tell InuYasha why I did what I did – and don't come after me. I don't think the outcome would be any different, and I really don't want to cause you any more trouble than I already have. Take care, everyone."

Lillia fastened her bow to the quiver and slung it over her right shoulder, her pack she threw over her left. After that, she made her way over to the demon lord, who was still watching them with the same empty look on his face.

"I'm done", she told him.

He wordlessly turned and headed into the forest. Rolling her eyes, Lillia followed.

* * *

They had been walking for a while now, and either of them had yet to say a word. Lillia had a policy of not talking unless she had something to talk _about_, and she had absolutely no idea what someone like him would be interested in. Besides, Sesshomaru struck her as the quiet type, and she wasn't going to risk angering him and maybe shortening her life drastically by asking questions – even though she still had no idea why he had just abducted her, she figured that she would find out soon enough.

For now, she just trailed after him – staying behind him at a safe distance, but not too far he might think she was trying to inch away. She kept staring ahead, at the dai-youkai's back – or what she could see of it, as his long, shiny, pretty, stupid hair blocked most of her sight.

Lillia had already realised he was extremely handsome, but had decided to ignore that – he was her kidnapper, and it wouldn't do her any good to become obsessed with or even fall for him. That would just be stupid, and Lillia liked to think of herself as an intelligent creature.

Sesshomaru was walking at a very leisurely pace, about half the speed Lillia would walk if she was on her own. However, she wasn't going to complain – after all, she had no idea how long they were going to be on the road today. If you could call it "road", as they were currently cutting right through a forest that looked as if humans only seldom got lost in it.

She was abruptly roused from her thoughts when Sesshomaru stopped, and addressed her at last.

"Are you not curious?"

Lillia blinked.

"Curious?" It took her a while to understand what he was asking about. "Not really, no."

He turned half-way around to look at her over his shoulder.

"Do not lie."

"I – what?"

"I can tell when someone is lying, so do not even attempt to deceive this Sesshomaru."

Lillia stared at him for a heartbeat. Had he just referred to himself in the third person? What an ass!

"I suppose I am curious, but I figured I would get answers eventually." She shrugged. "It didn't seem worth bringing up."

"Hn. This one had been under the impression that humans could never keep quiet."

"Depends on the human. I prefer staying silent to inane babble, especially if it is me doing the babbling."

"Hn. That is commendable. I do not care for that, so you had better keep that in mind."

"Sure."

They lapsed into silence again after that, but Sesshomaru had yet to resume walking. Instead, he was staring off into the trees as if he was lost in his thoughts.

"So – was there a specific reason you brought this up?", she asked after a while. "Are you going to tell me why I am here, why you saw the need to completely uproot my life?"

Even though she tried to remain calm, not wishing to anger the inu, she couldn't quite keep the accusing tone out of her voice.

He turned around to face her fully, his golden eyes boring into hers. It was only now that she got a good chance to study his face – it seemed more elegant and refined than InuYasha's, he actually reminded her of an elven lord – except for the markings on his face. Granted, Lillia hadn't met many humanoid youkai before, but none of them had had those markings. A dark blue crescent moon, partly hidden by his bangs, adorned his forehead, and he had magenta-coloured twin-stripes on his cheeks.

"What do you know about inu-youkai?", he asked at length.

"Nothing, really. I don't know all that much about youkai, to begin with, and the closest thing to an inu that I've met would be InuYasha. If there's anything important that I need to know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me."

_Since I don't want to end up dead for making a mistake out of sheer ignorance._

"There is not much that you _need_ to know", he replied. "However, you wish to know why you are here, and in order for you to be able to understand the reason, this one will have to explain some things. First of all, I did not take you away from your friends for any malicious reasons, as the miko would have you believe. I do not care for humans, and usually don't bother with them as long as they stay out of my way."

It was sort of a relief to know that – assuming he was telling the truth. Then again, there was no reason why he _should_ lie to her – it wouldn't make attacking or killing her any easier, as she was already virtually helpless.

"Yours is a completely different matter altogether – for the last couple of days, I have been trying to stay away from you. Unsuccessfully, I might add. My beast would not leave me with any other choice, and I do not intend to get anywhere near my little brother if I can help it."

"Your beast? What is that?"

"The reason for this mess", he replied, flashing his fangs as he spoke. "It is a manifestation of my instincts, the basest part of my existence. Its main task is to ascertain survival – which includes procreation. The beast looks for the perfect mate. It chose you."

"M-me? You mean to say _I'm_ your perfect mate?"

"Trust me, it was hard to believe for me as well", he sneered. "As I said earlier, I do not care for humans. They are weak, pathetic and useless. And I am not going to mate with one."

That was enough to make Lillia's blood boil as she glared at the demon. However, she was clever enough to keep herself in check, realising he was already in a bad mood and that, no matter what she said, it wouldn't change his opinion on the matter.

"Then – why am I here, if you do not want me?", she asked as soon as she had calmed down somewhat.

"I believe I told you that I tried to stay away from you", he replied in a tone that made it perfectly clear he thought her to be stupid. "My beast wouldn't let me. Ever since it became aware of your existence, it has been urging me to find you. It has been battling me for control those last few days, and nearly managed to overwhelm me on several occasions. And believe me when I tell you that you would have been far less pleased had it been my beast to come fetch you. It would not have cared for your pleas, either – it would have removed anything it considered a rival. This was the best solution I could come up with."

"So let me get this straight: your beast wants to be near me, but you don't?"

"My beast wants me to mate with you", he growled. "'Being near you' is just the start. This one believes it will be easier to keep the beast in check if it can have at least a small part of what it wants. Keeping you around is necessary."

"Lovely. But shouldn't you and your beast agree on what you want?"

"Ideally, yes. But I cannot make it change its mind."

Lillia made a frustrated sound.

"And I'm supposed to be happy about this, yes?"

"I do not expect you to be happy", he replied coolly. "But, at the very least, you should not blame _me_ for this mess. I did not wish for this to happen any more than you did."

* * *

Sesshomaru's revelation had done little to improve her mood – if there was something Lillia absolutely detested, it was any form of racism or prejudice against anyone, no matter if it concerned religion, colour or nationality. So, being told that she wasn't an eligible choice because she was _human_ – something she just couldn't help – was just too much to bear. She could have lived with it if Sesshomaru had a problem with her character, or the way she acted – she was, in fact, used to people not liking her for those very reasons, though she cared little for their opinion.

Lillia didn't like this turn of events in the least. Being stuck 500 years in the past was bad enough in itself, but until this day she had had friends and companions she knew she could rely on, and who would provide her with anything she needed. Kagome especially had been very helpful in this aspect.

But now that she was stuck with Sesshomaru, things were very different – all she knew was that he intended to keep her close, but she didn't know what that entailed. Would he protect her against danger? Would he provide her with food, once he realised she could not procure it herself? Would he provide her with anything else she might need, or would he just keep her alive for his convenience? There were just too many questions Lillia didn't have the answers too, and, from where she stood now, her future looked rather bleak.

As a result, Lillia hadn't eaten all day – deciding to ration the food Kagome had given her. They hadn't made a stop, either. Luckily enough, she hadn't really been hungry, and her stomach had refrained from making any noises – as he would have been able to hear them.

As dusk approached, Sesshomaru stopped in a clearing and announced that they would spend the night here. Lillia – who was feeling slightly worn-out – decided to skip practice tonight and started unpacking her stuff right away. She spread out the blanket and sat down cross-legged before pulling off her zori. After that, she had a look at her meager food supplies and decided on what she would have for dinner.

Sesshomaru had settled down against the trunk of a tree on the other side of the clearing and was watching her with an unreadable look on his face. Lillia decided to ignore him.

"Do you not have shoes other than zori?", he asked after a while.

Lillia spared him a brief glance.

"No."

"You will acquire some boots at the earliest opportunity."

She looked up again.

"I can't. I don't have any money."

He arched a brow.

"You will not be needing any money."

She shrugged.

"Whatever."

Lillia didn't know if that meant he would pay for the boots – or if he would just scare the merchant into giving them away for free. That seemed like something he would do.

The demon lord remained silent and motionless on his side of the clearing until Lillia was done eating. He then approached her, holding out rocks she figured were flint-stones.

"You should get a fire started. The nights can be cool in these parts."

Lillia, who didn't really like the fact that he was ordering her around like his personal servant, glared up at him.

"I don't know how to start a fire", she informed him coolly.

"You do not?"

"No. Kagome's in charge of that, and she has special tools that make it easier. If I had any of these, I could do it myself. But I don't know how to use flint-stones. So, if you want a fire, you'll have to start it yourself."

Sesshomaru's face seemed to darken.

"I am not the one who requires a fire to keep warm", he replied haughtily. "Besides, this one is unable to start a fire."

Lillia's eyebrow shot up as she stared at the dai-youkai in disbelief.

"Unable? Pray tell me, how comes a youkai such as you is unable to start a fire?"

The look on his face was positively murderous, but for some crazy reason, Lillia refused to feel afraid, or back down. Instead, she just kept staring at him challengingly.

Sesshomaru didn't grace her with a reply, instead, he snatched his left sleeve and pulled it back so she could see what was underneath – or rather wasn't. His left arm ended in a stump just above the elbow.

Lillia deflated, feeling really stupid right now. She had honestly not noticed that he was lacking a limb – partly because she had been occupied with other things.

"That's a valid excuse, I guess", she said quietly, looking away. "But I still don't know how to do it."

"This one will explain", was all he said to that. "Do you know how to select wood for a fire?"

"Yeah, I know that much."

Getting the hint, she slipped her zori back on and made her way off into the forest – glad to be able to get away from him for a moment, especially after just having made a complete fool of herself...

* * *

Sesshomaru watched the human, who had wrapped herself into her blanket, and was already sleeping peacefully. It had taken her several attempts, but she had managed to start a fire using the instructions he gave her.

Sesshomaru had actually been surprised when she had told him that she didn't know how to start a fire – it seemed like something everyone needed to know in order to stay alive – unless you employed servants to do those things for you. Sesshomaru wondered if, perhaps, she was a noble and simply not used to doing those kind of things – he didn't know how she had came to travel with his brother, after all – she might be a hime who had run away from home for all he knew. Actually, her pale complexion and smooth hands made that theory rather plausible – at the very least, she had not spent her life doing hard labour or being exposed to the sun much. She had probably been a sheltered girl, and those ended up running away from home quite often.

Or so he'd heard.

Her little show of defiance earlier had angered him, especially the part where she had actually dared to challenge him. It had been rather humiliating for him to shove his crippled arm in her face (figuratively speaking, of course), though her reaction had calmed him somewhat – she hadn't pitied him, or thought any less of him because he was crippled – something he had actually feared, though he would never admit that to anyone. Instead, she had seemed horrified – and rather subdued, probably cursing herself for not noticing earlier.

Though Sesshomaru had to admit that the wide sleeves of his haori hid his crippled arm rather well.

Once she had left camp to collect firewood, Sesshomaru had managed to calm himself and think a bit more clearly. Judging from her reaction, she had apparently believed him not only to possess the knowledge on how to start a fire, but also capable of doing it. Her angry reaction had probably been caused by the belief that he simply didn't want to do this himself. As Sesshomaru had contributed to this misunderstanding by withholding information, he couldn't totally blame her, either.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at her sleeping form. She hadn't really lived up to his expectations, either – he had expected her to be irrational, to yell or scream at him for taking her away from her friends, or to start crying (something he really hated), but he had not expected her to accept her lot in the calm manner she had. Luckily, she was not attracted to him, or things would probably be a lot worse. Sesshomaru had met many females who had been drawn to him simply because of his looks (or his title and wealth), but he had gotten rather good at getting rid of them, fast. The fact that this one wasn't interested in him at all, but rather felt annoyed because he had messed up her life was something entirely new to him.

As he continued to watch her, something else occurred to him. From his experiences with Rin, he knew that humans required food more often than youkai did – though they preferred to eat in regular intervals when at home, they would often skip meals on the road, as it allowed them to focus on other things that might be more important at the moment. Rin would get hungry roughly three times a day – sometimes more often – and Sesshomaru would then see to it she got her sustenance – either with his help, or Jaken's. This human, however, hadn't expressed any need for food at all throughout the day and, even though her clothes hid most of her form, he didn't think that she could afford to skip a meal or two. Also, she had eaten next to nothing for dinner, either – and the fact that she had closely inspected her supplies before eating made him believe that she was, maybe, rationing her food.

It was possible that she didn't expect him to provide her with food and was therefore trying to make hers last as long as possible. Sesshomaru almost scoffed at that – just because he didn't want to mate her didn't mean he was going to ignore his duties as her alpha – while he wouldn't go as far as to call her pack, he _had_ been the one to remove her from a pack that had been both able and willing to provide for her. Because of that, he was now responsible for her, and ignoring that responsibility would tarnish his honour – something Sesshomaru wouldn't allow.

He decided to make a short break at noon tomorrow, and observe how much she would eat. It was, after all, possible that she just hadn't had any appetite today. If she stuck to the pattern he had seen today, he would have to do something – for it wouldn't help him at all if she starved herself to death because she was too proud to ask for food.

That decided, Sesshomaru leaded back against the tree and drifted off into a state of semi-consciousness, one that allowed him to get some rest while still being able to sense his surroundings.

* * *

A/N: So, this is the first chapter. I would also like to use this opportunity to wish all my readers who do celebrate it a (belated) Merry Christmas, and those who don't I wish all the best regardles.


	2. Misery Loves Company

**A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 2! I estimate that the next couple of chapters will be relatively short, as I can't allow anything exciting or thrilling to happen, because that would cause them to bond, and we can't very well have that. I'll make up for that with lots of drama later on, though! But for now - enjoy!**

* * *

**Misery Loves Company**

Sesshomaru woke from his slumber the moment he sensed the human stir. The sun had just risen, and the birds were busy greeting the new morn.

The human rolled over, coming to face him, and curled up into a ball while mumbling something. It seemed that she was about to wake up, but slightly reluctant to do so.

She finally cracked her eyes open and blinked at the scene in front of her, a look of confusion on her face. It took her a while to remember the events of the previous day, or at least that was what Sesshomaru assumed.

"Great", she groaned, her voice still thick with sleep. "This one wasn't a dream, either..."

He decided not to comment on that, partly because he had no idea what she was talking about.

She finally untangled herself from the blanket and sat up, her long, curly hair a total mess and her clothes wrinkled.

"When do you want to leave?"

"As soon as you have eaten."

"Okay."

She started rummaging in her pack and produced a hairbrush. Once she was done taming her hair, she tied it into a plaid and tossed it over her shoulder.

Breakfast was a silent affair. She didn't say anything, and Sesshomaru didn't feel the need for conversation, either. She was, at the very least, eating more than she had the previous evening, and Sesshomaru suspected that she might have had no appetite after all. However, he was still going to keep observing her eating habits.

Once she was done and had packed her things, they set off. Sesshomaru walked at the same leisurely pace as always, and the human trailed behind him. He scowled slightly as he thought back to his predicament. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with her – going back to the Western Fortress would be the easiest thing, but that would require him to give the people of his household some kind of explanation, and Sesshomaru didn't feel like explaining himself to anyone. This was also the reason he had taken Jaken and Rin to the fortress and ordered them to remain there until further notice. He didn't want the human anywhere near anyone he knew.

And then there was his mother. Yuki, the former lady of the Western Lands, had often lamented the fact that Sesshomaru still hadn't found himself a mate and had no pups. She had started pestering him about that as soon as he had turned 300, and now, two centuries later, she felt that he was long overdue. However, Sesshomaru had decided he wouldn't mate with anyone other than his perfect mate – for he had seen how that had ended for his own family. His father and his intended dead, their son half-wild, and his mother a widow. He wasn't going to subject his own mate or pups to such a thing.

He smiled a cynical smile that no-one could see. He didn't know if his mother would be thrilled to learn he'd found his ideal mate, or appalled that she was human. Probably both. His mother was the only person he couldn't read, the only person that he couldn't intimidate or frighten. She was clever, cunning and powerful. Yuki held court at her own castle, Sesshomaru hadn't seen her very often during the last couple of centuries.

However, he was quite determined not to let her find out about his newest pack-member.

The morning passed in an uneventful manner – they were walking in silence, neither attempting to start a conversation. Sesshomaru was glad about that – he wasn't one to talk much, to begin with, and he wanted to avoid talking to her at all, if possible. The less he knew about her, the easier it was not to care, after all.

There were no outside forces to disturb their travels, either – every creature nearby had enough sense to stay away from one as powerful as Sesshomaru – regardless of how tempting his human companion might smell. Actually, the only ones stupid/crazy enough to bother him were Naraku and his minions.

And Sesshomaru was almost willing to make a prayer to the kami so they would stay away from him now. The last thing he wanted was for Naraku to find out he'd taken in another human. The vile hanyou would probably not care what Sesshomaru said about her, he would probably abduct her simply to see what kind of effect it had on him.

But as it was, there were no annoying creatures nearby, the sky was cloudless, and everything was peaceful and quiet. The human had no troubles keeping up with his pace, and, apart from her footfalls, made no sound whatsoever.

However, hers was a strange kind of silence – it was filled with a peculiar kind of tension, hinting that her mood might change very abruptly. So far, she had shown less fire than he had thought she would, but Sesshomaru had quickly figured out that she wasn't the meek, submissive type. She was being silent because she _wanted_ to. Sesshomaru wondered, for a brief moment, what he would have to do in order to break it, but decided not to venture down that path. The less he interacted with her, the better.

As the sun neared its zenith, Sesshomaru started to discreetly search for a place to rest. He spotted some boulders off to the right, and veered of his former course. The human just followed, apparently not caring which way they went. Once they reached their destination, Sesshomaru informed her in his indifferent manner that they were going to rest here and settled down underneath a tree.

The human strode over to one of the boulders and sat down on top of it, slipping out of her zori and depositing her equipment on the ground. For a while, she just sat there, staring at nothing, until a loud, rumbling noise disturbed the peace and quiet.

If Sesshomaru had thought she would be embarrassed by her body's betrayal, he was sorely disappointed – she was merely annoyed. What followed was a repetition of what she had done last night – she carefully inspected her food before choosing what to eat. Sesshomaru felt that his suspicions had been right – she had not mentioned that she was hungry, had not asked for a rest and only began preparing food when she was no longer able to pretend that she wasn't hungry.

This irked Sesshomaru greatly, because it made it very clear she either thought him incapable of keeping her fed, or that he wouldn't want to.

It didn't take her very long to finish her meagre lunch. Just like she had the previous evening, she produced her waterskin and washed her hands. Afterwards, she drank some water – Sesshomaru had noticed during the course of the morning that she would stop from time to time to take a sip from her waterskin, apparently she needed water more often than food.

After that, she resumed staring at nothing, not showing the slightest inclination to talk – or that she was ready to move on.

Not that Sesshomaru was in any hurry to get anywhere, but he had no intentions of sitting around for the rest of the day.

Even though she was quiet, she was far from relaxed – there was a peculiar tension surrounding her – not one stemming from nervousness or anxiety, it was more like every muscle in her body was constantly high-strung. Also, her emotions were rapidly shifting, from calm to angry to furious to happy to sad and back. Sesshomaru could only assume this must be in some way related to what she was thinking about at the moment, for there were no other reasons for her emotions to change so drastically.

After having observed this strange phenomenon for a while, Sesshomaru decided that it was time to move on. He immediately had her attention when he rose to his feet, her whirling emotions calming down instantly.

"We are leaving."

"Okay."

Without further ado, she started packing her stuff, and was ready to depart within moments. Sesshomaru had already started walking away from their resting place, but stopped again as soon as he heard that she was following.

"And try to keep your emotions in check."

She froze on the spot, surprise emanating from her.

"You can sense what I feel?"

"Apparently."

"Oh."

She kept standing there even after Sesshomaru had resumed walking, and for a moment he wondered whether he should tell her to move, when she roused herself from her stupor and came jogging after him. Sesshomaru inwardly shook his head. She was a strange one.

* * *

Sesshomaru stopped as he reached the edge of the forest and perused the village nestled in between the hills, surrounded by fields. It was a human village, but he wanted to know about everything moving around in the vicinity before going in.

The human came to a halt beside him and took a deep breath, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "here we go". He cast her a sideways glance.

"This is a human village. You have nothing to fear."

She let out a humourless laugh.

"I know. I'm not scared of them, I'm just mentally preparing myself for their reactions."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Look at me. What do you see?"

Sesshomaru frowned. Was that a trick question?

She sighed.

"Humans rely mostly on their eyes as opposed to other animals that use their noses or ears instead. Humans see me and see a youkai."

"Ridiculous", Sesshomaru scoffed. "You do not resemble a youkai at all."

"You say that because you _know_ the difference. My looks might have fooled you at first, but, since you are youkai, you can sense that I am human. Humans can't do that. They can't smell it, either – they rely solely on what they see. Tell me, have you ever met a human like me?"

"No", Sesshomaru replied.

"Hm. My kind is not native to this land – you would have to travel very far to find people that look like me. To those villagers, all humans have dark hair and eyes, because they have no evidence proving otherwise. Why should they assume a human's hair could be red, or blonde, or his eyes green, or blue? I might just as well tell them that sunrise is an illusion. They would never believe me."

Sesshomaru blinked. He was fairly certain the sun rose every morning, but he could detect no lie coming from her...

"So, those humans would assume you are youkai based on how you look. That does make sense, in a way. Did you experience such things often?"

"Yes. Every time we came to a village. The didn't mind Sango and Miroku, but the rest of us received odd looks."

She sighed again.

"I _told_ Kagome to get herself some different clothing, but she wouldn't... stupid, head-strong teenagers... Anyway, it was funny at first, people thinking I was a youkai. But they were terrified... I'm a curious person by nature, but I could never talk to anyone, because they'd run away screaming as soon as I got too close... they never gave me a chance to prove that I wasn't the monster they thought me to be. It's an instinctual thing, you know, fearing that which you do not know. It might be harmful – might even kill you. So, being wary is a good thing. But not if it keeps you from learning, from growing. This is what really makes me angry – when people refuse to broaden their horizon, because they are convinced that what they believe is right. People that will never give you a chance, no matter how hard you try..."

Sesshomaru decided not to reply to that, as it seemed to him that her last statement was partly aimed at him, and he absolutely refused to feel guilty about any of this. He wasn't doing this to make her miserable, after all.

"Are you ready to go?", he asked after a while.

Sesshomaru wasn't really the most empathetic or caring person, but he could understand that being rejected by one's own people because of such a trivial things as looks might be difficult to deal with. They might have been better off visiting a youkai village, but the drawback of that was that Sesshomaru might have to defend her against villagers that would want to eat her (or kill her just for fun), or that someone who knew who he was would spread the word that he was travelling with a grown human female. And Sesshomaru was pretty certain what the consequences of that would be.

"Yes. Let's get this over with."

Sesshomaru nodded curtly before setting off at his usual pace, the human trailing a few steps behind him.

The village was bustling with activity, the people were going about their daily lives in a happy, carefree way. No-one paid them any attention at first, and Sesshomaru used this opportunity to try and find out if there was a shoemaker in town. However, Sesshomaru's tall frame and their exotic looks eventually drew the attention of someone, and the frantic cry "youkai" sent the village into a panic.

Behind him, his companion made a frustrated sound, which Sesshomaru commented with a "hn".

Not wishing to make the situation worse than it already was, Sesshomaru stopped where he was and waited. It didn't take long for the village miko, a middle-aged woman, to arrive. She took one look at them and paled – apparently being able to sense Sesshomaru's youki and correctly guessing she wouldn't be able to take him.

"What do you want, youkai?", she demanded, her voice firm and clear.

She was putting on a good show for the benefit of the humans, Sesshomaru had to admit.

"My companion requires boots", he replied evenly.

"Is there a shoemaker in this village?", his companion asked, smiling at the miko, effectively ruining the mood.

The miko blinked after fixing her attention on her, only now realising she was human.

"You – you are - "

"In need of a pair of boots. As soon as I got one, we'll be on our way."

The miko looked baffled.

"Very well. This way."

"_Thank_ you."

Her overbearing friendliness began to irritate Sesshomaru – it wasn't fake as such, but it wasn't completely natural, either – she just switched into the role of the friendly, polite stranger. It seemed to work, though – the miko grew less hostile towards them – though she was still wary.

The miko led them to a small workshop and called for the owner. He looked ready to faint when he saw his patrons, and the human's irritation peaked. The miko seemed to notice as well, for she lost no time informing the shopkeeper about what had transpired.

The shoemaker now hesitantly approached his customer and, in a rather shaky voice, said that he would have to take measurements. She just sat down on a block of wood, pulled off her right zori and held out her foot for his inspection.

"I think I might have something for you", he muttered before hurrying inside.

The human sighed again, slumping slightly.

"See? I told you they would be scared out of their wits."

"Hn."

"I take it you have been mistaken for a youkai before?", the miko asked.

"Happens all the time. It's gotten pretty annoying by now."

"I see... But you do look rather odd, if I might be so blunt."

"I know, and I understand how this might make people uneasy. But it doesn't make any of this easier for me, believe me."

The miko nodded slightly in understanding, but remained silent.

The shoemaker returned, bringing with him a pair of boots he presented to the human. She inspected them closely before trying them on. She then proceeded to walk to and fro at a brisk pace, apparently wanting to test the boots. After a short while of pacing, she stopped and turned to face the shopkeeper.

"You have a good eye, they fit perfectly. I'll take them."

The shopkeeper looked very relieved (whether it was because she wasn't displeased or because he wanted them to be gone as soon as possible, Sesshomaru didn't know). As he named his price, Sesshomaru produced his wallet and handed it to the woman, who took the hint and proceeded to pay for her purchase. Afterwards, she packed her zori into her bundle and gave Sesshomaru a look that clearly meant she wanted to leave.

Sesshomaru turned on his heel and made his way to the nearest exit, while the human and the miko exchanged farewells.

As soon as they were far away enough so the humans could no longer hear them, Sesshomaru turned to face his companion.

"What was that all about?", he demanded.

"I'm sorry?"

"The way you acted just now. It seemed very – odd."

"Oh, that. I simply acted that way because it makes dealing with people easier. They usually like you better when you seem friendly and approachable – which I am not by nature. I mean, I can be nice if I want to – I just don't always want to. That's all."

"So – this was an act?"

"Sort of. I would rather think of it as showing a different aspect of my personality. You could call it opportunism, I suppose."

"Hn. This Sesshomaru sees nothing wrong with that. A good strategist always acts in such a manner."

"Why thank you."

"Where does your kind live?"

She blinked, apparently not having expected a question like that.

"To the west, very far from here. First, you need to cross the sea to get to the mainland. After that, you need to cross all of Asia, the continent we're on – and, depending on the route you take, overcome deserts, mountains and rivers. Asia is the biggest of all the continents, too, so crossing it alone takes a long time. And, once you reach Europe, the continent I'm from, you need to cross half of it in order to reach my homeland."

"Can you travel by sea?"

"Yes, but I think that would take even longer... you see, there is no connection between the Pacific Ocean – the one surrounding Japan and bordering Asia – and the Mediterranean Sea – the one south of Europe – which means that in order to get there, you have to round all of Africa – the second biggest continent. It's also a dangerous route."

Sesshomaru frowned slightly.

"Would it be possible to make such a connection, by, let us say, digging a channel?"

"Indeed – the strip of land connecting Asian and Africa is relatively small. However, the way things are now, this would probably be a project for many generations of humans – and, even if one ambitious ruler were to start it, his successor might not carry on with it, as he would not see the value in something he will not profit from himself. Also, the co-operation of several rulers would be needed... and I trust you know how hard it can be to achieve that."

"Hn. What is your homeland like?"

"Mountainous. Covered in woods. There's some big rivers, too, but also plains and rolling hills. My home town lies to the south of some smaller mountains, and at the banks of one of the biggest rivers. Woods cover the surrounding land in the north-west, and more rain falls there than in the southern and eastern parts of town."

"Hn. And there are many people there that look like you, yes?"

"Quite a few. But, like I said before, we come in many different colours, builds and sizes. Though some characteristics are typical to one area. For example, people from the south usually have darker skin than those from the north, which I believe is due to the difference in heat and the amount and power of the sunbeams."

"How would that make a difference?"

"If I were to take a leisurely stroll in a desert, I would end up with a nasty sunburn. Which is why we tan in summer – it's a form of protection. The more time you spend out in the open, the darker your skin gets. At least that's true for humans – you seem unfamiliar with this concept.

"Hn. Youkai do not get sunburned."

"Good for you. Anyway, people living in places where radiation is strong have the darkest skin tones, as far as I know. That includes people living far up north, where there's lots of ice to reflect sunbeams. Water is also good at doing that. In other words, if a human wants to stay pale, he mustn't go out into the sun."

Sesshomaru frowned.

"Why would people want to stay pale, if that makes them more susceptible to sunburns?"

"Beauty standards. It's stupid, really, but people who worry about those kind of things usually have servants to do the hard work outdoors for them. So, they have all the time in the world to worry about their looks..."

"You sound like you never had servants yourself."

"Me? Keeping servants? Where'd you get that idea?"

"You do not strike me as a farm-hand. Your skin is too smooth, too pale. You look nothing like those villagers."

"True, but that has nothing to do with me being too lazy to do work myself. The work I do simply doesn't require me to go outside very often..."

"You are not a runaway noble, then?"

She looked rather surprised at that.

"I am neither a noble nor a runaway. I was travelling, and now – I am kinda lost. If I could return to my homeland, I would have done so ages ago – but as things stand right now, I cannot. That is all."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at her.

"If you were travelling, why did you only bring zori? You ought to know that they aren't particularly good for walking."

She paused at that, and from the way her bearing changed, Sesshomaru got the feeling that she was thinking, and rather fast.

"Zori were the only kind of shoes I could use", she replied at last.

Sesshomaru's frown deepened. Her statement wasn't a lie, but he guessed from the way she had acted that it wasn't the truth, either – she had deliberately phrased her answer so that it wouldn't be an outright lie – she was hiding something. However, Sesshomaru got the very distinct feeling she wouldn't respond well to an interrogation on his part.

Still, he glared at her for good measure, but she was not impressed – she met his gaze with a calm and confident aura. Sesshomaru clenched his jaw muscles before turning on his heel and continuing on his way.

He could detect smugness and a feeling of victory coming from her shortly after that. It only served to make him angrier...

* * *

Sesshomaru proceeded to be rather silent throughout the rest of the afternoon, and Lillia didn't feel the need to chat, either – the amount of interest he had shown in her homeland and people earlier had surprised her, she hadn't expected him to express any kind of curiosity towards herself or other members of a race he didn't consider worth his time. However, his assumption that she was a runaway noble had amused her somewhat – she had no idea how he had come up with that one. She might have been a runaway _servant_ just as well... Then again, she probably didn't act like a servant, and the fact that she was carrying weapons had probably lead to him assuming she was a woman of elevated rank.

As the shadows started to lengthen, something occurred to Lillia, and she frowned slightly as she considered her new predicament. Suddenly remembering Sesshomaru's claim that he was able to tell what she was feeling, she increased her musings, hoping that he would catch onto it and realise something was bothering her.

When he stopped not long afterwards and turned halfway around to face her, she almost felt elated.

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering... are there any hot springs in the vicinity?"

"We can make it to one before nightfall."

"Ah, that's good. I'm used to taking daily baths, you know. I can make do with a brook if need be, but I do prefer hot water."

He gave her a bland look that made it perfectly clear he didn't really care about her preferences, but that didn't bother her – it was in his own interest, after all, if she didn't smell bad. She'd already been deprived of her bath yesterday and wanted to rectify that as soon as possible.

As the sun was nearing the horizon, Sesshomaru stopped in a small depression that did not only offer cover, but also shelter from the wind. It was, Lillia decided, a rather nice place to camp – especially considering they were in the middle of nowhere.

"We will camp here tonight."

Lillia had already guessed as much, but refrained from commenting. She dropped her equipment to the ground, spread her blanket and then changed her shoes – she hadn't been wearing her new boots all that long today, but she was still glad to be able to take them off. After that, she ventured into the brush to look for firewood. Luckily, it hadn't rained for some time and so she found some sufficiently dry branches and also some dead leaves she could use as kindling. She'd only have to make sure the wind wouldn't carry them away – for she didn't know if Sesshomaru's demonic abilities allowed him to quench forest fires.

She hummed tonelessly as she worked, for once being able to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding nature. She hadn't had much time for that as of late, because they had always been travelling, hunting shards, Naraku or some idiot youkai running rampant. Travelling with Sesshomaru had actually been a lot less hectic – he didn't seem to be in any hurry to reach whatever destination he was headed for, and they hadn't been attacked by youkai (or humans) either. Whether that was for lack of jewel shards, or because Sesshomaru just seemed very intimidating in general, Lillia didn't know – but she thought the latter to be very probable – she had seen the miko's reaction to Sesshomaru, after all. While people were uneasy around InuYasha, they had never reacted in such a manner.

Once she had collected enough wood, Lillia made her way back to camp. She did not retrace her steps, as she had been circling the camp to avoid straying too far. Instead, she guessed in which direction it was, and headed straight that way. She soon spotted the white gleam Sesshomaru gave off, and allowed herself a brief smile. If there was something she was good at, it was not getting lost.

If Sesshomaru was surprised she'd come back by another way, he sure as hell didn't show it – or maybe he just didn't care. Lillia had already guessed that he was pretty egocentric – as long as something didn't affect him personally, he didn't care about it.

Lillia cleared a section of the ground of needles and leaves before piling the wood up and stuffing the leaves in between. She wasn't going to risk burning any needles if she could help it – they'd just ignite right away, and might be blown away by the breeze. The leaves were hopefully too big to get out before they combusted.

Sesshomaru watched silently as she finished her preparations and fetched the flint-stones he had given to her – since he hadn't demanded them back, Lillia had assumed it would be okay for her to keep them. It wasn't like he could use them with just one arm.

Lillia still felt stupid for not having noticed that earlier – a lot of people lost limbs during their lives, even in her time. It just had never occurred to her that the same thing might happen to someone as seemingly perfect as Sesshomaru.

Not that having only one arm lessened the amount of perfection he possessed in any way – he was still stupidly handsome and so goddamn graceful. Even the way he walked was graceful – Lillia, on the other hand, had a way of moving around you could call aggressive – it was pretty useful, though – whenever she encountered two or three people occupying the sidewalk, all she had to do was continue on her way and they would move to let her pass.

Plus, you got where you wanted to be faster and needed less time to get there. Time you could use otherwise. Lillia's travelling methods were nothing but efficient.

Which made tagging after Sesshomaru a bit trying.

It didn't take her as long as last time to get the fire started, however, Lillia was surprised when Sesshomaru rose to his feet the same moment.

"Stay", was all he said.

Lillia blinked up at him, not understanding what was going on, when he unleashed his youki without warning. Stifling a startled cry, Lillia dropped to the ground and rolled away from the fire – before realising the whirlwind of power was neither affecting her, nor the fire.

She had no idea as to why Sesshomaru was doing this, but after a while, he reined his powers back in and gave her a look that clearly told her not to do anything stupid before disappearing into the forest.

After she had recovered somewhat, Lillia dragged the blanket closer to the fire before huddling down and wrapping her arms around her knees. She had no idea where Sesshomaru was going, or when he would be back – if he would come back at all – maybe he had already grown tired of her company and decided that leaving her was the best option after all...

Deciding not to dwell on such dark thoughts, Lillia instead deliberated whether or not she should eat. She didn't really have much food left, and, just in case Sesshomaru shouldn't come back, she would have to find help on her own, and would need supplies. So, she didn't move from her spot despite her growing hunger. She would give Sesshomaru an hour – if he wasn't back by then, she would go look for the hot spring to take a bath and then leave in the morning – leaving now, when dusk was falling, wouldn't be clever, and she would be hard-pressed to find a better camping spot.

Lillia glanced up when Sesshomaru emerged from the forest, carrying the carcass of a rather capital looking deer – the antlers were massive. His step faltered for a moment as he took in her form, and Lillia figured he probably saw clouds of doom hanging over her head.

She started disentangling herself and was about to ask what the hell this had all been about when he dropped the carcass at her feet without saying a word.

Lillia lifted a brow at him

"And what is this supposed to be?"

"Dinner."

That brought her up short, and she thought for a moment to have seen a glimmer of amusement in those cold, golden eyes.

"You – hunted this – for me?"

He arched a brow.

"Did you think this Sesshomaru would neglect his duties?"

There was an accusing tone in his words.

"No, rather – I didn't know what your 'duties' entailed – it's not like we set up a contract determining them. That's all."

"So you rationed your food."

"You noticed?"

"Hn. You were not eating enough."

"How do you know what's enough for a human?"

"I am not as ignorant about your race as you might believe", he replied haughtily. "Now eat. Properly."

Lillia glared at him – where did he get off, telling her how much to eat? Lillia remembered all to well how her mother's attempts to force her to eat more had usually ended... and she was not eager to suffer through this again – though Sesshomaru would share her suffering to some extent. But that thought did little to comfort her.

Lillia inspected her dinner and tried to figure out how to go about preparing it. She finally decided she'd start with the legs, as she wouldn't have to gut it that way – that wasn't something she enjoyed doing.

"Do you have a knife or something?", she asked the demon lord, who was still watching her.

He pulled out a dagger and handed it to her. Without thinking, Lillia reached for it with her right hand, momentarily forgetting that in Japan, it was custom to hand things over with both hands – something he couldn't possibly do with just one arm. She realised her error too late and hoped Sesshomaru wouldn't think even less of her now...

Lillia unsheathed the dagger and set to work. The fire was, by now, already collapsing in on itself and Lillia hoped it would soon be reduced to embers – for she was already pretty hungry.

Finding wood suitable for skewers turned out to be a bit more tricky, but in the end, Lillia had two ready. So she sat down again to wait.

Her stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and Lillia grimaced. Though she always ate less than a normal person would, she couldn't go with this little food indefinitely.

"What are you waiting for?", the dai-youkai inquired, no doubt having heard the growling of her stomach.

"It's not really healthy to put meat into the flames. I'm waiting for the wood to stop burning."

"So you intend to use the heat from the embers?"

"Precisely."

He made no answer, and Lillia busied herself with watching the flames and occasional sparks.

Finally, dinner was ready, and Lillia took the skewers off their makeshift racks. Since she'd have to wait a bit for it to cool down, she got up and made her way over to Sesshomaru, offering him one of the skewers. When he just looked at her blandly, she rolled her eyes.

"Your share", she said, somewhat vexed.

Sesshomaru blinked.

"I do not require food at the moment."

"You don't? Then why the hell did you kill something as big as that? Am I supposed to eat it all by myself? Not even my brothers – who are infamous for eating everything in sight – would manage to do that!"

Sesshomaru just kept looking at her – whether it was because he didn't know what to say to that, or he just didn't want to discuss this, she didn't know – she didn't care, either.

"Look, I don't know why you decided to drag something as big as that all the way here – I don't care, either. For the record: I can't eat that much. While I know it's not going to go to waste, I still don't like the thought of it being left just like that. Whenever you're hunting just for me, something small will do – a rabbit, or a bird. Fish is okay, too. Just so you know."

Lillia turned away and returned to her blanket. Had she known that he would refuse to eat – had never planned on eating at all – she wouldn't have bothered with the second skewer. Stupid dog.

Still angry, she began tearing the meat off the skewer with her teeth – not willing to get her hands even dirtier than they already were. Once she was done, she tossed her skewer into the still glowing embers before eyeing the second one. She'd already eaten enough, and she just knew how it would end if she ate more. Letting out a sigh, she tossed the skewer into the woods as far as she could. Something would eat it eventually... so it didn't count as waste. Lillia hated wasting food – which usually puzzled people, since she rarely ever finished her meals. Some people would then tell her that people in Africa were staving. Her cynical reply to that was always whether they thought it would be better if she sent her leftovers to them...

Returning to her blanket, Lillia sat down carefully, not wishing to upset her stomach. The time after meals was critical – she needed to steer clear of anything smelly, avoid any kind of physical activity (such as walking) and stress. Living with these odd conditions wasn't always easy, but Lillia had gotten used to them by now.

Once she felt that she had waited long enough, Lillia prepared her bathing supplies before fixing her attention on the inu she had been ignoring until now.

"Which way to the hot spring?"

Sesshomaru wordlessly pointed in one direction, and Lillia resisted the urge to roll her eyes – he had probably used up his daily ration of spoken words already.

The hot spring wasn't far away. It wasn't very big, either, but Lillia didn't really care about that. She quickly shed her clothes and got into the steaming water. She had to wash her hair, too – and she had no idea how she should go about doing that once it got cold – right now, it was still warm enough for her hair to dry by itself, but that wouldn't last forever... was she supposed to not wash her hair during the entire Winter? That didn't sound like it would be fun...

Lillia knew that she shouldn't stay in the hot water too long, as she would get dehydrated and might even faint. So, she finished quickly and then made her way back to camp.

She had planned on practising some kyudo before going to sleep, but it was already too dark. She would have to do this earlier tomorrow – preferably while Sesshomaru was off hunting. Assuming that he would hunt again tomorrow – but, seeing as how Lillia was unable to preserve or carry the meat, he would have to bring her something fresh every day.

Lillia sat down next to the fire again and began untangling her hair, hoping that it would be dry soon – she wouldn't get anything out of staying awake, after all, since Sesshomaru was still being as silent as before, so she might just as well call it a day.

Since the fire had almost completely died by now, Lillia put on some more wood and fanned the embers until they started burning again. She hoped that the fire would last for a while – though she knew that she would wake up if she got too cold. So she kept stoking the flames while she waited for her hair to dry. It wasn't a particularly entertaining activity, but better than doing nothing, and staring into the flames gave her the opportunity to let her mind wander.

Lillia had no idea how much time had passed when her hair was finally dry enough for her taste. She got up from her spot next to the fire, wrapped herself in her blanket and closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would soon find her.

* * *

A/N: I've been working on some illustrational work for my fanfics lately, if you like, you can check out my DeviantArt-account - I go by the same nick. Also, I've decided to start writing a glossary, since some of you might be unfamiliar with the terms I'm using. Also, please note that the Japanese language doesn't know plural endings (e.g. one miko - two miko). It is, however, not considered incorrect to add them when using those words in another language. Anyway, here's the glossary for the first two chapters, in order of appearance:

kappa - toad-demon. Also mentioned in the Harry Potter-books.

miko - shinto priestess, shrine maiden. Their taditional outfit consists of a white haori and a red hakama. No exceptions. Trivia: it is not uncommon for Japanese people to be shintoists as well as buddhists.

hanyou - half-demon

youkai - "demon", animal spirit would be a better description.

shikon no tama - jewel of four souls (shikon=jewel, tama=soul).

kyudo - "way of the bow" (as opposed to kendo or judo), a meditative form of archery.

hakama - trousers that are tied around the waist using two sets of ribbons. There are men's and women's hakama - men's hakama have a reinforced part in the back.

gi - a short-sleeved shirt worn underneath a haori. There is such a thing as an under-gi, as well.

haori - a long-sleeved top.

yumi - a bow made from bamboo. I don't know if there are separate words for longbows and "normal" bows, so yumi always refers to longbows.

teme - a very rude version of "you". InuYasha uses it primarily for Sesshomaru and Naraku.

kaze no kizu - wind scar (kaze=wind, kizu=scar). Not to be confused with kaze no kissu - wind kiss.

dai-youkai - great youkai, a youkai who possesses significantly more power than others.

inu - dog

zori - sandals. Some resemble flip-flops, but there are other versions, too.

hime - beautiful lady. Often used as a synonym for princess.

yuki - snow

kami - gods

youki - a youkai's power, which can manifest itself in many ways.


	3. Much Ado About a Hairpin

**A/N: So I didn't have internet or even a working phone for a couple of days, and I wound up writing this here chapter. However, I know how to fix it now, so don't get your hopes up too much ^^**

**This chapter introduces words from languages other than Japanese, which will be highlighted in italic - just as emphasised words. I briefly considered using bold instead, but that wouldn't look as good and tends to slow the reader down.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. Have fun!**

* * *

**Much Ado About a Hairpin**

During the next couple of days, they somehow managed to – well, not exactly to live _with_ each other – it was more like living _alongside_ each other. Communication on both sides was kept to a minimum, they were mostly content to be silent. It wasn't like they had much to talk about, anyway.

However, there had been trouble – Sesshomaru had continued to bring big animals back from his hunting trips, despite Lillia having explained very clearly what it was she wanted. As a result, she had refused to eat whatever it was he presented her with, as it didn't meet her requirements. She had no idea why he did this – was it to spite her? To prove how awesome he was, because he could wrestle a bear and win? Or was he still obsessing over the notion of her not eating enough? Lillia didn't know, and she didn't care, either.

She had refused to further discuss this matter, and hadn't been impressed by his glares and growls, either.

She could tell that it got to him – she wasn't sure if it was because she was refusing to eat, or because her disapproval meant something to him, but after a few days, he'd brought her a rabbit. Lillia had thanked him brightly before preparing her meal, and eating almost the entire rabbit. She had been amazed at herself.

Sesshomaru seemed to have gotten the message, for he stuck to the smaller animals. Lillia had often observed that rewarding positive behaviour yielded better results than punishing negative behaviour – especially if you offered no alternative. Apparently, things were no different with the Lord of the Western Lands.

After that, they had established some kind of routine, and nothing interesting happened for several days, until, one evening, Sesshomaru returned early from his hunting trip, and Lillia was still practising kyudo. She chose to ignore him in favour of finishing her practice, slowly, calmly and precisely, and focused solely on the tree she was using as a target – she obviously couldn't carry a makiwara around to practise on.

"You are rather careless", Sesshomaru observed. "I could have easily killed you."

"Pray tell, how would me paying more attention to my surroundings protect me against that? I highly doubt I could do anything about it."

Lillia still refused to look at him, determined not to let him distract her any more than he already had.

Sesshomaru let out his signature "hn" in response and was silent for a while. Then...

"How do you intend to ever hit a moving target, if you take this long to aim? I have seen archers in combat. Speed is their greatest forte."

"I know that. And, for your information, I don't intend to hit or kill a moving target. I'm not a warrior, I don't practise archery for that purpose."

"There is another purpose for practising combat techniques, other than using them in combat?", he asked, sounding somewhat incredulous.

"Sure. Some people study martial arts out of interest or curiosity, others as a method to stay fit. However, there are things such as kyudo that are a meditative way of practising what would normally be a deathly art. I am doing this to relax, to unwind. It helps me focus. There is no competition, no enemy. I am the target. And nothing else matters."

Lillia released her arrow and wasn't too terribly upset that she missed the tree by a bit. Though it did bother her somewhat that Sesshomaru was here to witness it.

She then went to retrieve her arrow before deciding she had practised enough. She bowed to the tree before returning to her blanket. After depositing the arrow in the quiver, she sat down and began to unwrap her gloves. Not all practitioners of kyudo wore gloves on both hands, but Lillia had found that she didn't like it when the welts of her bamboo arrows ended up chafing away the skin on her left hand. So, she had bought herself a glove for the left hand, too.

Dinner was, again, a silent affair. After her first failed attempt, Lillia had never again offered Sesshomaru food, believing he would ask, should he actually be hungry for once. Though Lillia was sure he ate – maybe he didn't want to eat in front of her as not to appear weak – trying instead to make her believe he could go without food for a long period of time.

Lillia didn't really care. If he didn't want any of the food, fine. It did seem wrong to her, though, that he wouldn't eat any of his kills – unless, of course, he had already eaten his share before he returned.

* * *

Sesshomaru had never spent much time with humans before Rin had come into his life, so he didn't really know all that much about them, but he had already figured out that his new companion was strange. She would sometimes speak of things Sesshomaru had never heard of, but he had not once caught her lying. She had also become quite skilled at not telling lies and skirting around questions, so, whenever Sesshomaru realised she wasn't going to tell him what he wanted to know, he usually let the matter rest.

She also had some strange habits – for example, Sesshomaru caught her time and again gazing at the silvery bracelet she wore on her left wrist with an intensity as if she expected it to give her some kind of information. He had no idea why she was doing that, and eventually, curiosity got the better of him.

The human looked up, rather surprised, when he asked her about it, before answering his question.

"It's called a '_watch_', but I also like to call it '_chronometer_'."

"What does that mean?"

"'_Chronos_' means time, and '_meter_' is related to measuring and tools involved – in other words, this is a device that measures time."

Sesshomaru was baffled for a moment – not that he would ever admit that.

"How does it work? It seems pretty outlandish – is magic involved?"

"No, no magic. I don't really understand the specifics, because I didn't study the art of making _watches_, but the hands are moved by tiny cogwheels that are, in turn, moved by a power source. We decided that one day has 24 hours, and one hour has 60 minutes. The small hand indicates the hours, the longer one the minutes. Which is why it moves faster. The symbols here are numbers, they indicate the amount of hours that have passed."

"There are only twelve of those 'numbers' on here", Sesshomaru observed after taking a closer look.

"Correct. The small hand has to complete two turns before a day is over. When it reaches 12 for the first time, it's midday. When it reaches 12 again, it's midnight, and a new day begins. So we have, for example, eight in the morning and eight in the evening. It's important to make this distinction when making an appointment – or someone might show up at the wrong time."

"Hn. Sounds troublesome."

"Oh, it works just fine most of the time. Problems in communication happen, whether or not tools like this are being used. The worst thing that could happen is actually that the watch stops working... we are so used to those tools we can't get by without them. Which is why I am trying to teach myself to guess what time it is by using shadows as indicators – for my watch will stop working eventually."

"Can you not simply procure a new power source?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's complicated."

Sesshomaru instantly knew they'd reached another instance in which she wouldn't say any more. Well, seeing as how he had just obtained some rather peculiar information, he decided she might just as well keep her secrets.

* * *

Lillia was busy braiding her hair one morning when Sesshomaru walked over to where she was sitting in order to watch.

"You seem to like wearing your head in many different styles."

"Indeed I do."

"Why?"

"I don't like looking the same every day", Lillia replied, shrugging one shoulder. "And, since I can't change my outfit, my hair has to do."

"I haven't seen this kind of plaid before."

"It's called '_Fischgrätenzopf_', that means 'fish bone-plaid'. I think it's something that's typical for my homeland, though I can't say that for sure."

"Hn. I have never seen you wear your hair up, though."

"That's because I don't have anything to keep my hair in place with", Lillia replied while tying the end of the plaid with a piece of string.

Getting to her feet, she brushed twigs and branches off her hakama and motioned for Sesshomaru to lead the way.

It was sometime after midday – and their "lunch break", when Sesshomaru suddenly stopped before telling her to stay put. After releasing his youki the usual way, he vanished into the woods, leaving Lillia behind to wonder what the hell was going on. Agitated, she kept pacing, not liking the fact that they had abandoned their routine at all. It confused her, and she didn't like being confused.

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to return. Lillia cocked a brow as she waited for him to tell her what was going on.

_He'd better have a good explanation for this, too._

However, Sesshomaru apparently had no intentions of explaining himself – instead, he held out his hand, revealing the object he had had clasped within.

It was a hairpin. Decorated with little gems, mostly blue ones, and carvings that had been inlaid with gold. It was beautiful.

Lillia stared at the pin, then at Sesshomaru. She still couldn't make sense of this. Had he really just abandoned her in the middle of nowhere to bring her a hairpin? She could only assume it was for her, as she was pretty certain he wouldn't wear it. Though he certainly had enough hair.

Still, she had to know...

"Is this – for me?"

He nodded curtly.

Lillia's gaze returned to the pin. She was no expert, but it seemed very valuable to her, and Sesshomaru surely had enough money to buy whatever he wanted – though she wasn't sure how much money he could carry on his person – paper money hadn't been invented yet, after all.

"This is – I can't accept this", she said, still trying to wrap her mind around what was going on.

Why on earth was Sesshomaru suddenly bringing her gifts? What the hell was happening here?

"You don't want it."

There was a strange edge to his voice, and, before Lillia had time to react, he had snapped the pin in two, dropped the remains and disappeared into the forest.

Stunned, Lillia stared at the spot he had occupied a moment ago, her mind reeling. She dropped to her knees, reaching for the broken pieces. She had no idea what had just happened – one didn't just accept an expensive gift – one that came out of nowhere – just like that. Though she would have accepted it with a little more persuasion on his part – it had been a very beautiful hairpin, after all.

However, now it was a very beautiful, but broken hairpin. And Sesshomaru was nowhere in sight.

It was then that she realised he had left without flaring his youki – and, since she hadn't paid attention to how long he'd been gone earlier, she had no idea whether or not she was still save from any hungry predator that might be lurking nearby. Feeling a sudden sense of dread overcome her, she put the pieces into her purse before getting to her feet and retreating to the base of a tree. She would give Sesshomaru two hours – if he wasn't back by then, she would have to come up with a plan.

Time was a very peculiar thing – whenever you needed to do something urgently, you never seemed to have enough of it, and when you desperately wanted time to pass quickly so that an event would finally take place, it seemed to move at a sluggish pace. It was no different for Lillia as she sat under the tree, waiting. Minutes seemed to stretch forever, making her briefly entertain the idea that she might have fallen into a black hole, and that the flow of time had been slowed down.

Finally, the two hours were up – and Sesshomaru was nowhere in sight. Her mouth twisting into a grim smile, Lillia figured he must have finally grown tired of her, and abandoned her. Well, sitting around moping wouldn't do her any good – unless Sesshomaru had chanced upon a caravan, there had to be a village somewhere in the vicinity – though she couldn't really say how "near" it would actually be in human terms. Lillia got to her feet, determined to travel as far as she could while she still had daylight.

Anger fuelled her steps – what on earth was Sesshomaru thinking?! First, he dragged her along onto this crazy hike to nowhere, and then he just up and left? The nerve of that jerk!

Lillia had no idea how long she had been walking when she started feeling a bit calmer – only to jump backwards with a shriek when she found herself suddenly face-to-face with a rather angry Sesshomaru.

There was a strange fire in those normally cold eyes, and his fangs were bared. Lillia had no idea where he had suddenly come from, either...

"Why did you leave?", he all but growled, stalking closer to her while she kept backing away.

"Because I didn't think you were going to come back!", she snapped at him, her fury returning with a vengeance.

That brought him up short.

"What did you expect me to do, wait for something to come along and eat me?!"

"This Sesshomaru would have never abandoned you. It would have tarnished his honour", he replied haughtily.

His reply only served to make her angrier.

"Your honour? I don't give a damn about your honour! You were gone for two hours when I decided to leave! How was I supposed to know you felt honour-bound to come looking for me eventually? It's not like you ever tell me any of those things! For all I knew, you had finally gotten fed up with me and decided you'd be better off without me. Again, how was I supposed to know you _would_ return? Besides, something could have already killed me while you were off doing – whatever it is you do when you leave. Not that I care what that is."

Sesshomaru kept staring at her, but apparently didn't feel the need to reply – let alone apologise. Letting out a sound of frustration, Lillia turned on her heel and started off in a different direction.

"Where are you going?", Sesshomaru demanded to know.

"Somewhere. Doesn't really matter, now does it?"

"Wait."

He was suddenly there, grabbing her arm. Lillia glared up at him.

"Unhand me."

Sesshomaru refused to comply, and Lillia tried to jerk her arm from his grip – and winced when a jolt of pain shop up her arm. Seeing her discomfort, the dai-youkai immediately released her, and Lillia carefully rubbed her arm.

"What the hell!", she spat. "Haven't you done enough for one day?! Just leave me alone!"

"You do not know the way."

"No. But I wasn't under the impression that we were going anywhere specific, so any direction should do."

"Indeed. However, there are some directions that are better than others – therefore, it would behove you to follow my lead."

"Huh. Well, seeing as how you're back now to actually do the leading, I suppose I might. Well then, lead on", she said sarcastically.

Sesshomaru fixed her with a penetrating stare which she returned with just as much force. Eventually, he gave up and took the lead again. Lillia followed, still simmering with anger.

* * *

Sesshomaru couldn't understand how things could have gone so terribly wrong. He was pretty certain he wasn't at fault, though.

After their conversation this morning, he had left on a whim to see if he could find her a hairpin in the settlement he had sensed. It was a youkai village, so bringing the human along would have been too risky. Sesshomaru had left her behind at a safe distance before leaving on his errand – he had even found a hairpin he liked, and he felt she might like as well.

But she had refused his gift. Just like that. Sesshomaru had been angered beyond belief, and left in a hurry to find something to vent his anger on. It had taken him quite a while – he would, after all, never lowering himself to the point where he might accidentally harm his intended. So, he had to make sure he was in control before he returned.

When Sesshomaru had made it back to the spot he had left her in, she had been gone. He had panicked for a moment, believing she might have been killed – however, he had been unable to detect any traces of a fight or blood, or anything that indicated that anyone besides the human had been here. After he had calmed down somewhat, he noticed that her scent was strongest near a tree – she must have been sitting there for a while. And from that spot, a fresher trail had led into the forest.

It had taken him quite a while to find her – she must have been walking much faster than Sesshomaru normally did. Eventually, he had managed to catch up to her – and had found himself having to fight a nasty little fight. L- the human – had been angry with him, and her assumption that he wouldn't come back for her had shocked and enraged him. However, he could hardly hold that against her – she had not been lying, she really had felt abandoned by him.

Quite a hard blow.

The remainder of the day was not pleasant – somehow, she managed to maintain the same level of anger towards him, and occasionally, her temper flared – and Sesshomaru had a nagging suspicion she was doing it on purpose. She was trying to punish him, and Sesshomaru still felt like he didn't deserve it – he hadn't done anything wrong, after all. It wasn't his fault that she didn't "give a damn" about his honour. He sure did.

Sesshomaru decided it would be better not to hunt tonight, but stay with her, to reinforce his opinion that she was his to protect. Leaving now would have been counterproductive. Thankfully, she still had some food on her.

The human ignored him pointedly for the rest of the evening, and went to sleep soon. Letting out a sigh, Sesshomaru reclined against a tree and tried to forget the events of this day.

Sometime during the night, he was suddenly woken from his slumber when the human showed signs of distress. She shot up from her blanket, eyes wide and her heartbeat accelerated. Sesshomaru quickly scanned their surroundings for any kind of threat he might have missed, but there was nothing out there...

Soon enough, the human had calmed down, and, with a soft groan, dropped face-first into her bedding, trying her utmost to fall asleep quickly.

Sesshomaru frowned slightly as he considered that she might have had a bad dream – he didn't know how prone grown humans were to nightmares, but Rin had suffered them quite frequently after her first death. Sesshomaru had been at a loss as what to do about it at first – he had never dealt with pups having nightmares before, after all, and Rin had never sought his help, either – she had just stayed where she was, trembling and shaking...

Eventually, Sesshomaru had managed to figure out a way to offer comfort using a method that was also acceptable to Rin, which hadn't been that easy, as Sesshomaru had stopped expressing any kind of emotion a long time ago.

Which was another reason he found it difficult to deal with this human, as she had just proven how emotional she could be.

The next morning was cloudy and slightly more windy than the day before. The human woke early, as was her habit, and prepared breakfast silently. Her mood still seemed sour, and Sesshomaru decided that something had to be done about this – one, she needed to understand his view of things, and two – it was horribly unpleasant that his intended was angry with him. His beast was terribly upset by that and would like nothing better than beg her forgiveness until she stopped glaring at them.

However, Sesshomaru wasn't going to lower himself to that level. His beast was simply being an idiot. Again.

As soon as she was done eating, Sesshomaru rose and crossed over to where she sat while she was still busy packing away her stuff – he didn't want her to think they were leaving, yet.

"We need to talk", he announced as he lowered himself gracefully to the ground so he could face her.

She halted her movements for a moment and looked at him, a brow cocked. Sesshomaru sighed inwardly, suddenly getting a very distinctive feeling that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Since you are human, you might not know those things, but to inu, nothing is more important than their pack. And it is the alpha's duty to protect his or her pack. Not carrying out that duty for whatever reason would be utterly dishonourable – people say many things about me, but no-one ever said I was dishonourable."

"I just said I didn't care about your honour - ", she began, instantly defensive, but Sesshomaru cut her off.

"That was not aimed at you. I am trying to make you understand – by taking you along, removing you from your former pack, I made you a member of my pack. Currently a pack of two, but still a pack. I would have never abandoned you – like I said, it is simply not done – especially if the pack-member in question was young, or weak."

"Well excuse me for being weaker than you", she grumbled. "Can't help it."

Sesshomaru winced inwardly – that had not worked as planned.

"That was not at all meant in a condescending way – there are always those in a pack that will require protection."

"It sounded pretty condescending to me."

"Could you try to be a bit less difficult?", Sesshomaru snapped, suddenly realising she was doing this on purpose.

"I am a woman. We define as 'difficult'. Did you honestly expect this to be easy? Your good intentions non-withstanding, you still left me alone for over two hours! And all because of a stupid hairpin! I still can't believe this. You're a grown man, act like it."

Sesshomaru glared at her, not at all pleased that she would insinuate that he was acting like a foolish pup.

The human let out a sigh of frustration.

"Look, I know hell would freeze over before you ever apologised, so – just don't do this again. Ever. Or so help me..."

Sesshomaru nodded curtly, finding this a perfectly acceptable solution.

* * *

A/N: Well, this is it. I'm already working on the next chapter, though I can't say how long it'll take for me to finish it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this - at least more than my two unfortunate protagonists ^^

Glossary:

makiwara - a target used for combat practise. There are different kinds of makiwara; archers use a cylinder-shaped bundle of straw sitting on four legs. Each archer fires two shots with the same arrow from a bowlength away before queueing behind the other archers. They bow to both the target and the other archers.


End file.
